A boy is in critical condition after surviving a shark attack at an Australian beach thanks to a brave pal who rushed into the water to save him, according to authorities.
The boy, believed to be 13 years old, was jumping on rocks near a Sydney Harbor beach in the city’s eastern suburbs when a large shark mauled him around 4:20 p.m. local time on Sunday, New South Wales Police Superintendent Joseph McNulty told the Sydney Morning Herald.
One of his friends heroically jumped into the treacherous waters to help him, as two others assisted with dragging him back onto the rock platform, McNulty told reporters.
“Those young men are brave under those circumstances, and very confronting injuries for those boys to see,” McNulty said, per the outlet.
“But I suppose that’s mateship,” he added.
A police boat arrived minutes later, and officers helped tie two tourniquets around the unconscious boy’s legs — performing CPR as they rushed him across the wharf for medical care, the outlet reported.
“The boy had lost his pulse. There was a large blood loss, and the double tourniquet stemmed that flow of blood loss yesterday and has contributed to saving his life,” McNulty said.
By the time officers arrived at the wharf, they were “covered in blood,” witnesses told the outlet.
“The medical team would have intubated the boy to take over his breathing for him and continue circulating blood for him, as well as give him a transfusion on the way to the hospital,” NSW Ambulance Inspector Giles Buchanan told reporters.
“It was touch and go the entire time,” Buchanan said.
The boy was transferred to a hospital and underwent an operation overnight, authorities added.
Local officials are now working to identify the breed of shark that mauled the teen, speculating it could be a bull shark, which swarm the Sydney Harbour between January and February, according to the report.
“The combination of the brackish water, the fresh water, the actions of the splashing, may have made that perfect storm environment for that shark attack,” McNulty said.
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